The 6th Nocturne of Faure is a large work in ternary form (11 pages in the Hamelle edition). There are also some hints of Scriabin in this music. I believe that this is the best of Faure's 12 nocturnes. His searching and poignant melodies are captivating and his modulations are ingenious as expected. As with the Faure barcarolle I recently posted, this recording dates from the 1980s, however I believe it is very listenable. I'm OK with the rules for posting "historical" recordings, as I said before. If it doesn't make it into the archive, at least people will be able to hear this music here in Audition Room.

The sound is good enough. It does have that "retro" quality, but I don't think it detracts from the whole.

What does detract from the whole is those heavy thumps on the downbeats. For me those are distracting enough that it's hard to listen to. Sorry. Too bad, because there's a lot to love in the piece, it obviously requires some technical accomplishment, and I do like how you bring out the melody and your tasteful rubato. The B section (beginning at 2:15) is very nice, with an intriguing darker quality. Still a little bit of downbeat thumping here too though. Also nice is the trill-like section (beginning at 4:28) with well phrased outer voices. Here the downbeat thumping does not begin until you arrive at a more dramatic portion of the phrase.

I admit that shortly thereafter I stopped the track and went and listened to your recording on this site of Scriabin prelude #12 in G sharp minor, a piece that could be prone to downbeat thumping by the unwary, and I found your recording of that piece to be quite beautiful. The bass is appropriately voiced a little strongly, has no thumping articulation and doesn't overpower. So I'll just say that I'm glad you grew out of the habit.

Yes, I too later became aware of those downbeats. It made those moments overemphasize meter, especially for Faure. A few though needed that emphasis for various reasons. One thing that helped, I believe in addition to changing articulation, was throwing away the original key punchings and replaced them with Crescendo conical wurzen wool key punchings when I rebuilt the piano. It too helped.

Well, I'm glad that several other elements of my playing pleased you in this piece. I've relearned, recorded and posted three Rachmaninoff preludes recently. I've been quite amazed as to how differently I played them now as opposed to years ago. I guess that's progress.

Thanks for listening and commenting.

David

_________________"Interpreting music means exploring the promise of the potential of possibilities." David April

I've noticed that there has been only one member who commented on this beautiful nocturne by Faure. If the reason is that the topic is of little interest, Faure is not popular here, my playing was god awful , analog is unlistenable, or for whatever other reason, I really need to know that. If the verdict is generally negative, then probably it would be better to delete it rather than having it languish taking up space here. Thanks in advance for your input.

David

_________________"Interpreting music means exploring the promise of the potential of possibilities." David April

Hi David,Speaking for myself, I'm not interested in listening to an older recording, unless it's by a friend who specifically asks me. My time here on the forum has to be only for critiquing recordings for possible submission onto the main site. I know the sound quality of your recording here is not of our standards, so that is why I can't take time to listen, let alone comment on it. But also, you said yourself that you are okay with your recording simply remaining here on the forum. In your words, "If it doesn't make it into the archive, at least people will be able to hear this music here in Audition Room."

_________________"Simplicity is the highest goal, achievable when you have overcome all difficulties." ~ Frederic Chopin

I had a listen to your piece. I enjoyed it a lot. I like the accented downbeats, though I realize perhaps I am the only one who shares your taste I think this Nocturne holds a lot of dramatic harmonic shifts and really registering the pedal bass notes on the 1st strong beat seem to carry throughout the measure, without using pedal which could be a blurry sounding mess.

Chris,

Yes, I've noticed that too. Isn't summer the time when everybody has free time? Let's hope you're wrong and the forum isn't dying

_________________"I don't know what music is, but I know it when I hear it." - Alan SchuylerRiley Tucker

You're probably right about the summer slowing things down with people traveling and doing more activities outdoors, etc. I don't think that the PS site has died on the vine; however, looking at the first page of Audition Room, recordings do seem to remain there far longer than the case previously, suggesting that the quantity and velocity of new postings is less and slower. Also, in late spring we used to get posts from music school students posting some of their recital pieces. (Not that we'd see them again anytime soon.) It seemed there wasn't as much of that this year. We do have a core of members who post music regularly. They're really the mainstays here. Hopefully that hasn't dropped off. It would have to be examined to know for sure. If true, that would be a bad sign.

I'll leave this post in place.

David

_________________"Interpreting music means exploring the promise of the potential of possibilities." David April

Yes, I know you're very busy and pressed for time, so must limit yourself to items being archived. I understand that, plus you do fine work there and have helped me numerous times. Thanks for your hard work which benefits all the members and visitors here.

David

_________________"Interpreting music means exploring the promise of the potential of possibilities." David April

You have a very keen ear. Yes, with all the polyphony and modulations, the harmonies often serve as tonal anchors, almost as important as the melody. So you're quite right that they are sometimes actually bass pedal points--not only in the sense of Bach's use of them, but also Debussy. Thus to sustain them, you really have to put more arm weight into them to increase the sound, which I did. I think that many pianists would only understand that if they played the piece themselves. Thanks for your perspective on it!

David

_________________"Interpreting music means exploring the promise of the potential of possibilities." David April

Yes, I know you're very busy and pressed for time, so must limit yourself to items being archived. I understand that, plus you do fine work there and have helped me numerous times. Thanks for your hard work which benefits all the members and visitors here.

David

Thank you for the thank you, David. But people just like me to process their recordings - that's it.

You should not be concerned regarding ‘how many’ comments you get. At least you got some! I had three recordings up here last week for two days and nobody said anything so I took them down. Isn’t that nice? And I know Everybody! saw the post because of the comments on other postings after my recordings were up. Boy, I’m really loving it here….

Ok, don't worry....that's my little rant, but I'm done now.

_________________"Simplicity is the highest goal, achievable when you have overcome all difficulties." ~ Frederic Chopin

I had three recordings up here last week for two days and nobody said anything so I took them down.

Two whole days, waahhhhh... Maybe you should allow some time for feedback instead of getting in a strop and deleting your post (which surely does not help the matter at hand). Sometimes it just takes a while for feedback to trickle in, and sometimes there just is none. Better get used to that idea.

I often log in here with the intent to listen and comment on everything in the audition room but it so rarely happens! As I teach for part of my living, I don't want Piano Society to feel like a job either...

By the way (this is mostly to Monica) I find it easier to comment on pieces I know well, or at least where I know the style. Sometimes I come by and listen/comment on something that's unfamiliar, but I don't think that I am as helpful there as with pieces I know, so I tend to save my commenting for where I think it will be of most use to the pianist. You enjoy playing pieces that are very off the beaten path, which is awesome, but it does mean that I (at least) am less likely to feel that I know what I'm talking about enough to make comments.

I agree with you that if you're quite familiar with a piece, it's easier to give a knowing critique. I must admit that I tend to remain in my comfort zone too. But sometimes if you hear an unfamiliar piece, you might like it so much that you want to search for the score. I think it's OK to let the pianist know that you enjoyed it at first hearing. Those responses can also be motivating for pianists to play at their best.

David

_________________"Interpreting music means exploring the promise of the potential of possibilities." David April

Last edited by Rachfan on Thu Jul 11, 2013 11:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Bravo, David, I have enjoyed your interpretation a lot as always. It' played very musical and precisr without loosing the romantic spirit, which I can feel in every note. That' s such a marvellous recording, that the two page turns didn't bother me at all. It seems congenial to me and also the sound quality is quite good. So I personally can't see any reason not to upload it on the main site, since there seems also to be a high interest. ( over 40 downloads here in the AR.) Really apity from my view.

Thanks so much for listening to this gorgeous nocturne, probably Faure's best in my opinion. The earlier ones a are different, pleasant and have much to commend them, although the late ones seem to be more dark and austere. This No. 6, for me at least, has always stood at the apex in this volume. In some ways it's a daunting piece to play, and where it's a long work, the pianist has to highlight for the listener different facets of the music during the journey. I'm glad you enjoyed this wonderful piece. It's one of my favorites.

Thanks too for your comments on the quality of the recording. I too believe that it is very listenable. And there is no other recording of this nocturne in the archive. If Chris or Monica would agree to put it up, I would agree not to introduce my mono Ampico reel-to-reel tape recordings from the 1960s when I was a teenager!

David

_________________"Interpreting music means exploring the promise of the potential of possibilities." David April

Hi David,from my view this recording is worth to be put up. I also would try to edit the page-turns out for you, when I´m back at home (at this moment I´m on holidays in Holland), if this is the reason not to put it up to the main-site. I don´t know, if this would be possible, but it would be worth an attempt IMHO.Best regardsAndreas

If you'd care to remove the page turns in the Faure Nocturne, I'd be both delighted and appreciative. I am horrible at doing edits. Awful! If that were done, yes, perhaps it would be enough to make an appeal in the matter.

Enjoy your holiday in Holland!

Best regards,

David

_________________"Interpreting music means exploring the promise of the potential of possibilities." David April

Hi David,I have edited your file (see attachment, please). The page-turns I have cut out and I have deleted the small hiss in the background. I think, the recording does sound quite nice. Of course, it has not the quality of a new one, but it is still enjoyable from my point of view. So I kindly ask the site-admins to think once more about to upload it on the main-site.

I can tell you think very highly of this nocturne. I do too. I think it's Faure's best and I tried to treat it accordingly.

Thanks so much for taking time to do those edits you mention. It's definitely an improvement.

And, of course, I greatly appreciate your advocating to have this big and very important piece put into the archive. With the changes, I concur with that and hope that Chris and Monica will perhaps reconsider adding this one. (I noticed too that Heather had stated that the sound was good enough. I very much agree.)

Thanks again, Andreas, for taking such an interest in this piece and your fine work on this.

David

_________________"Interpreting music means exploring the promise of the potential of possibilities." David April

Huh, seems like a new music board has emerged while we weren't looking

I'm not easily given to reversing our decisions just because somebody else has a different view. Sounds a bit undemocratic but I fear we would be arguing a lot about everything then. This is why I put in the rules that decisions cannot be appealed. Pretty dictatorial, eh ? Those who don't like this are free to volunteer as an admin (if you can't beat'em, join'em, hehehe)

In this particular case I don't see that we really made a decision, we just accepted it (as with David's previous golden oldie) as something not for the site. Listening to the cleaned up version I don't find the sound quality too bad either. The out-of-tune and wobbly treble is irritating but that happens in more recordings and it's not so bad as to spoill it. So I see no reason not to put this one up, especially if the obnoxious page turns have been removed. I'll do it over the weekend.

This certainly doesn't mean we are going soft on this now. If we (Monica and I) agreed something will not go on the site, then that's it.

Yes, I think your resolution is fair. And Andreas' fixes were indeed an improvement. I just looked in Audition Room where the piece has garnered 666 views and 87 downloads which is good, so there does seem to be keen interest in the recording. I was even more surprised by the Barcarolle which was put up earlier. I guess Faure is more appreciated than I thought.

Thanks for your favorable decision.

David

_________________"Interpreting music means exploring the promise of the potential of possibilities." David April

Well, Faure is up in the site's banner, so he must be doing something right I hear him a lot on Dutch radio these days - though it's almost always the Requiem, the Cantique, the Pavane, and the suites (Dolly, Pelleas, and Masques).

Thanks again for being flexible in this case. I can promise that I won't be making a habit of it. There does seem to be a lot of interest in the Faure recordings though. And it's interesting you hear Faure more in broadcasts. I just wish that some listeners here could be diverted over to my Rachmaninoff Prelude. But the problem there is that hardly anyone but the Rachmaninov fanatics (like me) knows the piece. But, being in the archive, it'll continue to be heard over time.

David

_________________"Interpreting music means exploring the promise of the potential of possibilities." David April

Thanks for uploading it to the main-site, Chris. I´m really glad about this. And, of course, I also don´t want to make a habit of such things. But in this case it was really worth, because Davids interpretation is so unique, valuable and is so much congenial to the composers spirit from my view. Really wonderful playing.I will switch to your new Bach-submission as soon as possible, btw.

Thanks for listening to my recording from the 80s. I'm glad you liked it. One thing I noticed about the Faure nocturnes is that the late ones seem darker in nature. This No. 6 has a nice buoyancy to it I think. It remember it was a joy to play it.

David

_________________"Interpreting music means exploring the promise of the potential of possibilities." David April

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